Hidden Blessings "... who struggles with sin, and I do not inwardly burn?" - Paul (2 Cor 11:29) "... but I say walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." (Gal. 5:16) also Romans 6:12-14 also Hebrews 12:4 also 1 Cor 7:37 God's Hidden Blessings. I wonder why I'm so dissatisfied with the church in America. I've always felt somewhat awkward about it, as if I'm some young, arrogant, dissatisfied punk who is willing to complain but unwilling to lift a finger. I believe God revealed to me again the truth of Romans 8:28, that he uses everything for the good of those who love him. In my dissatisfaction, God has called me not to programs and not to actions unprompted by faith, not to titles, duties, or obligations, but to himself. I've tried to run instead to people, seeing the life of Christ in many around me, desiring that. Yet, one by one, God removed each of these people from my life that my soul would not be satisfied with just Godly people- only God alone. What other purposes has God/ is God/ will God fulfill thru such a strange thing? Who knows, but I bet they are too numerous to count. Also, in my struggles with sin - lust, pride, apathy, unbelief - but particularly with lust, I see that God has not stopped calling me toward himself. I know that God doesn't desire for me to be a neat, clean person - but a broken, utterly 24-7 dependant vessel. Not self-sufficient to do my own thing, but a jar of clay created for the master's purposes. He's not granted my victory over sin the way I have perceived and desired it - to strip away the lustful desires from me completely - but instead used them to show me the path to true freedom comes from a continual stream of surrender unto God. Your word has come alive and jumped into my heart, your promises fill me with joy and hope.